| MOSES.
Let me tell thee, gracious princess ; 'tips no
Sudden freak nor impulse wild that moves my mind.
I feel an earnest purpose binding all
My soul unto a strong resolve, which bids
Me put aside all other ends and aims,
Until the hour shall come when God—the God
Our fathers loved and worshipped—shall break our I
chains,
And lead our willing feet to freedom.
PRINCESS.
Listen to me, Moses : thou art young,
And the warm blood of youth flushes thy veins
Like generous wine ; thou weariest thy manhood
Like a crown; but what king e'er cast
His diadem in the dust, to be trampled Down by every careless foot? Thou hast
Bright dreams and glowing hopes ; could'st thou not
live
Them out as well beneath the radiance
Of our throne as in the shadow of those
Bondage-darkened huts?
MOSES.
Within those darkened huts my mother plies her tasks,
My father bends to unrequited toil;
And bitter tears moisten the bread my brethren eat.
And when I gaze upon their cruel wrongs
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